Blog | Simple Living

Take it seriously – hoarding is a psychological disorder

June 6, 2017 22 Comments

Wow. When I wrote my first post about hoarding, I had no idea it would generate such passion and interest. I started to write individual responses to all of you who have posted your comments, but there were so many common themes in the comments that I realized it was time for me to write a new post that includes updated information about hoarding. All of you who posted have really educated me. In my original post, I suggested strategies like, “give your hoarder his or her own room,” or “set rules about common spaces,” and so on. From all of you, I realized that strategies like these don’t work. Here’s why. Hoarding is a serious psychological disorder, and until that issue is addressed and treated, nothing will change. It’s plain and simple. Hoarding is so serious that it now has it’s own designation in Psychiatry’s standard guidebook—the Diagnostic and […]

Health, Home, Mindfulness

What your clutter says about you

May 22, 2017 3 Comments

Have you ever noticed that your clutter is tied to how you feel inside? I notice that when I’m not feeling settled, or I’m anxious about something or in some way feeling scattered, I tend to let stuff pile up more than when I’m feeling calm. Clutter is such a graphic manifestation of our inner world, isn’t it? To bring this home, I just received an email from a reader who said she was going through a huge life transition with her youngest child off to college, she was in a luke-warm marriage, and she’d been a homemaker and wanted to find her passion, but didn’t know where to start. Her whole email was about how unsettled, lost and dissatisfied she felt. And then she talked about how her home office was disorganized and she wasn’t managing her paper very well. She wrote: “I believe my hidden clutter is symptomatic […]

News

How to be safe using Uber and Lyft

May 15, 2017 No Comments

I don’t normally write public service announcements, but in this case, I’m writing one. I feel like all of you who subscribe to my blog are my family, and I care. I want you to be safe. Please pass this on to everyone you know. Last week, the news was abuzz with a big story about a female Uber passenger who was sexually assaulted by a “fake” Uber driver. Apparently hers was not the only such incident involving fake Uber and Lyft drivers. I urge you to watch the video here. I’m a huge, huge proponent of using rideshare companies to get around in large cities, so this news got my attention. I decided to do a little research. There are several components to this story. First, how can we protect ourselves from fake Uber and Lyft drivers, since they drive regular, not-easily-identifiable cars like cabs? Second, how safe are legit […]

Family, Health, Recipes

The insanely simple and healthy way to put dinner on the table

May 8, 2017 3 Comments

Bowls. Think bowls. I am always on the search for insanely healthy and ridiculously simple ways to put dinner on the table. That’s because I get stressed trying to come up with something new every night. So I came across the bowl method. It definitely passes my test for ridiculously simple and healthy cooking. Here’s all you need, every night: Bowl Grain Veggies Protein Sauce Miscellaneous goodies for added excitement Done. The only cooking tools you’ll need are also insanely simple: wooden spoon, knife, frying pan and sauce pan. I found a great book that massively simplifies this idea. It’s titled Grain Bowls, by Anna Shillinglaw Hampton. Even the layout is super simple – each page shows you the finished bowl, plus a super simple recipe. I’m loving this! Minimal and healthy cooking at its finest! Here are a few samples: Red Quinoa Ratatouille Time: 15 minutes Serves 2 […]